The Journey Begins..

If you’ve never read anything of mine before my writing can be long winded, informative & humorous at times but, sometimes complete nonsense.

As I mentioned in ‘I’m That Guy!’ I’m not much of a writer, its more like speak write as in how I’d speak to someone. During this multi post/blog journey I’ll do my best to keep them more concise; ok that’s not true but you don’t have to read them. In all seriousness I am not sure what this will become but I’ll do my best to keep it somewhat interesting or at least picture filled.

A little background..

I love to travel and last year, when the company I worked for went bankrupt, the consideration of travel till the end of 2018 (you can read about it here) was on my mind. I did get the chance to finally knock Egypt off my list and made it to Jordan as well; I’ll have to post about that someday. Long story short, hired back, after an acquisition, wasn’t happy, lied to (A LOT), and things didn’t work out.

Rewinding a bit, in the midst of the work stuff, my friend Todd discussed joining him, in October, on tour. With something to look forward to, us both loving Japan (never been together) and, him happy to have some help out, it was an easy decision.

After his unexpected passing (a long blog here), the job thing really taking a turn for the worse and some general life shit I scrapped the whole idea. Honestly there was a lot going on in my head space. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, not in regards to the trip, with my life in general; I’m still not!!

It was May, the job was done, well technically I was still getting paid, and believe it was at Todd’s memorial concert (may have been before) that Keri Kelly said something like “Bro you should come to Japan.”  It wasn’t out of the blue just part of a larger conversation. I considered it for a bit and that lead me down the path of a longer journey. I had always wanted to go to Australia and New Zealand, I’d even planned a trip there but never took it.

My thoughts led me to a much longer, 4-5 month trip around the world. I started looking Round The World (RTW) tickets (yes there is such a thing) and how/where I’d go given the rules (no backtracking, must cross both oceans, etc). The trip included Japan, India, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, UK and well you get the gist. In the end due to not working and some medical crap it was just too much.

I still wanted to go to Japan, kind of in honor of my friend, and I still really wanted to make it to Australia and New Zealand. As I was looking at the feasibility of it one of my favorite live bands, U2, announced they would be touring New Zealand and Australia. This was the sign needed, it was back to planning.

First on the agenda, concert tickets. Since I knew I was going to NZ it made sense to go to their first show in Auckland. I also planned to go to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney so thought maybe I’d go to those shows as well. A fellow U2 friend from Boston, met in Dublin (at U2), got in touch saying he (and his buddy) were doing all the Australia shows; the plot thickens. Now I had people I could meet up with in a couple of places to break up the solo travel.

U2 also announced they were playing, for the first time ever, Singapore. Hmm, I lived in Singapore, maybe I should go back? They announced (at the time) the last date would be in Korea, should I go there? My friend Michelle lives in Shanghai, I haven’t been, should I make that a stop as well? The trip started to grow.

There  was a lot more to it. I decided no Singapore, no Thailand (was in play because of airfare) and, given I tend to travel with a purpose, decided to only go to places I hadn’t been (outside of Japan).

I purchased tickets, even tried to, unsuccessfully, sell a couple when I realized it was too many shows. Now I had to put together a plan of sorts. As crazy as it seems airfare was very affordable but not if I went round trip to Japan, Australia or New Zealand. The cheapest airfare was going from NY to Tokyo, Tokyo to Bangkok and home from Korea. I swapped out Thailand for Vietnam (I’d never been) and the price dropped $100.

I’m not sure why, actually, I am, but regardless, I kept procrastinating on the trip. U2 went on to add Manila (and eventually India), other places I hadn’t been. Although that was never really on my travel list, EVERYWHERE IS! Out of curiosity I checked the airfare returning from the Philippines and even adding in the concert ticket it was cheaper; again reason(s) to sell some of the other tickets.

The sketch plan..

I never really made a rock solid plan but I’m sitting here typing on the bullet train to Nagasaki; so you’re now part of my journey.

My plan remained more of a sketch where I kept shading in pieces. Once I knew New Zealand was a definite I  reconnected with, a friend, Mike, after 20+ years.

At 25 I left a consulting gig and my friend/co-worker Dave and I traveled for a few months in Europe. We met Mike and Bob in the Naples train station. We were all headed to Brindisi for an overnight ferry to Corfu Greece. Our group of four grew to 6 by the time we were in Corfu. Eventually we reached 13 through Athens and the Greek Islands. Only the 4 of us and a girl named Michelle from Melbourne stayed in touch (even visited again)  for about a year before losing touch.

It’s definitely a story for another time. He and Bob were already going to U2 and I plan to visit him in Auckland, meet his wife, kids and was invited to stay at their place.

In addition to reconnecting with my old friend I’ll see some others. In a few days I’ll meet up with Keri, Carl, Eric, Richie, Brad and well the whole Night Ranger clan in Tokyo. For those unaware Keri is a bit of a foodie and craft beer guy. He owns Ace’s and Ale’s in Vegas and will be opening a brewery in the near future; easy to imagine we’s get along. He already has a whole beer agenda for us which has led to my Japan trip being about places I haven’t seen, history and beer, not that there’s anything wrong with that!

On top of that I’ll see some other friends. I’ll see the Boston boys in Brisbane and at a couple of U2 shows in Australia. My friend, Jodi, is booking a trip which will overlap with my time in Sydney. I’ll head to Shanghai, visit my friends Michelle and Craig and once in Korea see fellow concert maniac, Bill, for U2 before he heads to Tokyo for Kiss.

So for not having a plan, I got a pretty decent plan.

Long winded I know but tough shit; I warned you. Now you know how my journey was born and, for the most part, where it’s going.. The future blogs will be shorter; no they won’t!

Next up Kicking things off in Japan..